Thursday, 14 May 2009

Brace yourself. This is definitely one publisher's opinionpiece. If you're an author over the age of 50, then you'llunderstand the points in this article, but if you're youngerthan 50, you may not have a clue or be able to relate toanything said here. ::Sigh::

Revisiting the right stuff. What is the right stuff?

There was a time when our vocabularies were more widely used inour writing. (I do not speak of five dollar words here, butcommon words used to vary sentences.) However, many of the bookstoday reflect a disease I call Hollywood-itis. This diseaseencompasses using profanity in every other word of dialogue, ornearly so. Even many of our cartoons use inappropriate languageand thus have become much less funny and some of them downrightdistasteful. Most of our current TV commercials are appallinglystupid, insulting anyone with even one side of their brainworking and the other side dead. There is such a thing asproducing something so stupid it's really not funny. It'spathetic. Have I ever purchased anything after watching one ofthose idiotic commercials? No. Never.

Many of the book signings and conferences I attend andparticipate in become great forums for hearing what the buyingpublic wants. I constantly hear from people buying books thatthey are sick to death of filthy language, among other things.Many ask me about such content in my books before they'll buyand I don't blame them for asking. I'm glad they do. Many ofthem tell some of the books they've bought are not onlyoffensive, but distracting. It yanks them right out of thestory.

"Oh, but our culture has changed," some of you shout at me."Our dialogue wouldn't sound real unless we incorporate trashlanguage into our writing."

Nonsense.

Clear, concise writing and wordsmithing does not depend onprofanity for its success.

"You are moralizing!" someone just shouted at me. I can hearyou. Call it what you want. The fact is liberal profanity in anywritten work lacks class and intellect in the rendering. Goodwriters get their point across without the heavy overuse of it.You have only to read the classics to know the truth of this.They are still classics. Gee, I wonder why? Does it really takea genius to figure this out?

I once received a young adult submission that was so chock fullof profanity, which is the way many young people speak today,that I insisted the author make revisions or it wouldn't beacceptable for publication in my company. Her argument was thatthe dialogue wouldn't sound real. Again I say nonsense. Do youmean to tell me that if a young person is reading a book full ofexciting, active words showing them a story they're reallygetting into, that they miss hearing the filth? If it's a goodbook, chances are those young readers won't miss what's notthere, but they will read and enjoy what IS there. If they can'tenjoy a book without that sort of language, then what does thatsay for their upbringing, their mindset and education? Not agreat deal to recommend it, I'd say. How much of that stuff arethey hearing at home? This has become another facet of thebreakdown of our education in America. But that's a whole otherarticle.

Authors, you have the opportunity to "Revisit the Right Stuff"in your books. Show readers how really talented you are atcrafting a wonderful, memorable book that won't have to bepackaged in a plain brown wrapper and hidden from your childrenor your grandmother. Encourage all your author friends to useactive verbs and engaging scenes in their works. Encourage allauthors you know into getting back to CLASS writing. If you'reshowing anger, show it, don't shout it at the reader in the formof disgusting profanity to get your point across. Give yourcharacters enough dialogue and animation to show us they areangry or in a rage. In today's environment, this is a challengeto many of you. Step up to it. Show us your right stuff.

The Exceptions

I envision a lot of tongues in cheeks out there at this point,so let me further clarify. When I speak of disgusting profanity,I am not talking about the occasional damn or hell used indialogue. Those expletives do not conjure up demeaning or sexualimages in a reader's mind and they are as common as apple pie. Ahelpmate to blowing off steam. One still does not have to useexpletives, but these are far less distracting and offensive toa reader than some of the other profane words, which I will notmention here for obvious reasons. You've all heard and readthem.

On the other side of the coin are authors and readers who tellme they are not bothered by foul language in books. Fine, butthere are far more people who are, and why should we authors nottry to write our very best for them instead of turning them offreading altogether? I've seen this happen too many times andit's heartbreaking; it's also damaging to the industry as awhole. People won't buy books, if they no longer read for thesheer want of quality books.

I'm not saying books have to be syrupy sweet. Not by any means.In certain suspense and thrillers, profane words occasionallyspoken by the villain or antagonist can be sometimes tolerated,even by the most prudish reader, because those awful characterswould most likely speak that way. But the key word here isoccasionally. It is unnecessary to overuse foul language, evenin our dastardly characters. Hone your vocabulary, instead, todraw your villain well without all that. However, your heroesand heroines will rarely use profanity or they won't sound likeheroes and heroines.

One of the exceptions might be if a hero is about to be shotfull of holes. He wouldn't say "Oh, shucky darn," would he? No,so let's be realistic here. In my thriller NIGHT FREEZE, theword my main character uses as an expletive appears only once inthe entire book, and it's not the "F" word. Even my extremelywarped serial killer comes across as one scary dude without myusing a lot of profanity. A challenge to write indeed, but itcan be done. As a publisher and senior editor I long to seehigher quality writing that took some real thought, some realblood, sweat and tears To make it the right stuff.

About The Author: Lee Emory is an author of ten novels,numerous short stories and articles, who is also a professionaleditor for 40 years. She is the owner of/Senior Editor forTreble Heart Books Publishing. Lee teaches writing workshops andspeaks at numerous writers' conferences. Visithttp://www.trebleheartbooks.com or email leeemory@earthlink.netto learn more.